someday we will foresee obstacles through the blizzard
by rainingroses05
Summary: "God, Chloe. She can't stop thinking about the picture in his drawer. That fucking picture. Of Chloe. It makes her want to cry. Or hit someone. Hit Nathan." Max beats up Nathan in Episode 4 instead of Warren.


His mistake is touching Chloe. He touches Chloe, and Max throws herself at him.

"Stay away from her!" Her first move knocks him off balance, and she gets in a few messy punches before he knees her in the stomach, sending her flying to the wall.

He presses one hand against her collar bone, pinning her to the wall, and his fist connects with her face- hard. She tastes blood. He hits her again. Someone blurry is yelling and pulling on his jacket.

Then she gets the upper hand again, somehow, clawing and scratching until she can hit him again. Again. Something feels off the third time. Sharp pain shoots up her hand.

Someone is tugging on the back of her shirt. Then their arms are around her waist, trying to pull her back, but her knees are planted firmly on the ground, pressed against Nathan's ribs. "Max. Please. _Max._ "

Chloe.

God, _Chloe._ She can't stop thinking about the picture in his drawer. That _fucking_ picture. Of Chloe. It makes her want to cry. Or hit someone. Hit Nathan.

She punches him again.

Then she's dragged off of him and someone holds her close to their chest, and she's shaking, shaking, shaking. She can't stop shaking.

Chloe strokes her hair once and starts pulling her toward the door. She knows it's Chloe even with her eyes closed. She can tell by the way she smells and the way she feels and the way she presses one hand firmly to Max's lower back and the other to the back of her head.

Chloe kicks the door, and it swings open. Max tries to glance back at Nathan before the door shuts, but Chloe pushes it closed as soon as they've both stepped into the courtyard.

"Dude. That was awesome," she says, turning Max to face her. Her eyes are sparkling.

Max tries to muster up a smile, but there's blood on her hands, and it makes her feel sick.

"Hey," Chloe says, softer now. It's a voice Max has only ever heard Chloe use on her, and while she's sure she has no right to claim it as hers, it makes her feel special. Cared about. "You ok?"

The leftover adrenaline in her veins is dizzying. Everything is sharper than it should be, brighter. It hurts her eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

Chloe tilts her head to the side and gives her a look.

Max ducks her head.

"Come on. Let's just go to the bathroom." Chloe reaches for Max's hand.

Max flinches back, her fingers throbbing. "Sorry, I-"

"God, Max, what did you do to your hand?" Chloe already has a hand wrapped around Max's wrist, looking at the red splotches on her hand that will most certainly make painful bruises and asking her if she can bend her fingers.

Max halfheartedly tries to wrestle her hand out of Chloe's grip. "Sort of. It just… kind of hurts." She sighs. "But I'm fine," she adds, hoping Chloe can't tell that her voice is shaking.

Chloe drapes one arm over Max's shoulders, and Max leans into her. "Ok, but that was so cool, Max. You showed that asshole not to mess with you. Did you see his face when-" Chloe pauses, stopping in her tracks and turning Max to face her. She narrows her eyes. "You're bleeding. Come on. Bathroom."

Max's hand flies to her face, but she doesn't protest as Chloe drags her to the bathroom. "Where?" She touches her nose. Her fingers come back red.

"Your lip, too." Chloe shoves the bathroom door open with her hip.

"Ugh. I am so not as cool as you made me sound a minute ago." Max wrinkles her nose.

"Come on, you _so_ are. You should've seen _Nathan's_ face." Chloe tears a paper towel out of the dispenser and runs it under the water. She hands it to Max, who presses it gently to her lip.

"Thanks."

Chloe hands her another paper towel, taking the other and looking at her lip. "Ok, nose. Tilt you head forward. Or, wait, back. No… Forward. For sure."

In the end, Max just wipes the blood off her nose and throws the paper towel in the trash. She leans against the sink.

"I should get you something for your hand. Hang on."

"Wait-" Max starts, but Chloe is already out the door, probably going to get an ice pack that she _doesn't need_ because she's not _dying._ Her hand throbs. Maybe it would be nice.

Max kicks at the tiled floor, crossing her arms. She takes a shaky breath. She can practically see it all happening again. Her in the corner. Chloe with her back pressed against a wall. Nathan, gun pointed in Chloe's direction. Then _bang_ and there's blood everywhere, so much blood, Chloe's blood, and she-

The door swings open, and Chloe comes skidding into the bathroom with an ice pack wrapped in a paper towel in one hand. (Every time Max sees her, she feels like she's been gone for _so_ long). "Come here." She takes Max's hand gently in her own, gingerly pressing the icepack to her fingers. She narrows her eyes. "Do you even-"

"If you ask me if I know how to throw a punch, I swear-"

"Of course, you don't. You've probably never even slapped someone."

"Yeah, I just went straight to pointing guns at people." Max chews on the inside of her lip. The feeling of the gun weighs in her hand, and she flinches, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Am I hurting you?" Chloe asks anxiously. She loosens her grip on Max's hand until their palms are just barely pressing together.

Max shakes her head. A wave of exhaustion hits her, and she lets her head rest on Chloe's shoulder.

"Are you dizzy or anything?" Chloe lifts Max's chin up and looks her in the eyes. "He hit you in the head pretty hard. _Bastard_ ," she mutters under her breath.

"I'm _fine,"_ Max insists, shaking her head again. Her gaze drifts to the far corner. _The blue butterfly on the bucket._ When she looks back, Chloe is still staring at her. "What?"

"I've just never seen you like that before."

Max looks down. Every time she thinks that this was a one-time thing, a singular moment of anger, she remembers Frank. She stares at the blood on her hands. "I tried to shoot Frank, Chloe. I-"

"Because you were _scared_. That, just now, that was… angry. Not in a bad way. Nathan deserved it."

"He _hurt_ you," she says, like a hypocrite. Like she hasn't hurt Chloe, too. She rubs her eyes, smudging tears and dirt and blood across her face. _God, she's a mess. She's a fucking disaster._

"No, no, no, don't… Hey. Look at me."

Max looks everywhere but at Chloe, scrambling for an explanation she doesn't have as to why _this,_ of all the things, is what sends her to tears.

" _Max,"_ Chloe says again, and her voice is so soft and gentle that Max lets herself meet her eyes. "You don't have to take care of me."

"Like you're doing for me right now? Maybe I'm just… making up for lost time." For every tear she wasn't there to wipe away and every wound she couldn't kiss better. She'll never really be able to make up for all of it. She knows that. She already did so much damage. And the cuts and scrapes Chloe's ended up with over the years aren't the kind you can fix with a kiss and a band-aid.

Chloe tilts her head to the side. " _Max_. Seriously, dude, you've already done that, like, five times over. How many times have you saved my life now?"

"Maybe if I'd been there for you this whole time I wouldn't have had to." She sighs. "Look, Chloe, I'm fine, really."

"So, I don't need to take you to the emergency room or anything?"

"No, I'm _fine._ I just need a minute and-"

"A hug?" Chloe stretches out her arms and twitches her fingers. "Bring it in."

Max wraps her arms around Chloe's waist and leans into her as she closes her arms around her. She smells warm, like smoke and summer.

Chloe loosens her grip, holding Max by the shoulders and staring at her. A smile tugs at the corner of her lips. "I'd kiss you if your lip weren't all bloody,"

Max stares at Chloe for a moment and decides she is so, _so_ ready for it, the kiss that always dies on her lips before she has the courage to give it away. "You would?" she says softly before the chorus of _god, Max, don't sound so eager_ goes off in her head.

Then Chloe's lips are pressed to her neck, and everything goes quiet.

"Compromise?" Chloe says softly. Her breath tickles Max's neck. "Good enough?"

Max opens her mouth, but no words seem to be able to make their way out. She can still feel Chloe's lips on her neck. _More than good enough_.

Chloe straightens and looks at her, grinning playfully. "Alright, Super Max. C'mon. We have shit to do and time to rewind. You up for it?"

"I…" Max chews on the inside of her lip, searching Chloe's face for any evidence that _that_ meant something. Anything. "Yep. Ready as I'll ever be."

"That's my girl!" Chloe squeezes her arm. "See? You're tougher than you think." She leads Max out of the bathroom, kicking the door open on the way out.

Max feels herself relax as the door closes behind them. She could do without ever entering that room again.

It seems almost odd that the sun is still shining when they step outside, that it's still the same time of day. It feels like they've been in that bathroom for hours. Max lets her gaze drop to the ground, watching her steps along the concrete. When she looks up, Chloe is staring in the direction of the boy's dormitory. "What is it?"

"Nothing, just…" Chloe presses her lips together, considering. "Maybe I should go back there and give him a piece of _my_ mind."

"Chloe…"


End file.
